There are a couple of points here.
First of all, Sanz's music may be less complex than Bartolotti's, although I
would question this assumption. But the main point is that his book is
intended as an instruction book with at least some material for beginners.
The other point is that all the Italian (and Spanish) works to which Sanz
refers all include some information on how to accompany a bass line and it
is this context that he mentions them. He is saying is that none of them
include as detailed a discussion of the subject as he does.
Bartolotti does not include any instructions on how to accompany in either
of his books so there is no reason to mention him.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lex Eisenhardt" <eisenha...@planet.nl>
To: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 9:18 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] stringing and performance
However his reasons for recommending the re-entrant tuning for elaborate
solo music like that of Bartolotti
Sanz's solo music is by far not as elaborate as Bartolotti's. Most of
Sanz's pieces in the 'modern style' (not the Italianate passacalles) are
charming little tunes exclusively to be played punteado. Nothing like the
polyphony or the rich battuto-pizzicato textures of a Bartolotti. For
Sanz's folk pieces re-entrant tuning seems ok. Bartolott's name does not
appear on the summary of guitar composers in Sanz's introduction, and he
may not have been familiar with this music.
are all to do with the kind of strings available.
Plain gut strings were used for the bass on most plucked instruments. It
seems odd to suppose that the (supposed inferior) quality of bourdon
strings has been a reason to move over to re-entrant stringing on the
guitar.
For a contrasting view, perhaps I may recommend my article 'Bourdons as
usual', in the last issue of 'The Lute' (47), obtainable from The Lute
Society. There you'll find Monica's responses as well. There are no
electronic versions available, I'm afraid.
When it comes to adding the sixth course you have to ask why it took
nearly
150 years before this development took place. The most likely
explanation
is that for both practical reasons to do with stringing and because
re-entrant tuning has some intrinsic benefits it usually had a re-entrant
tuning.
The most practical reason to not use a 6 string/course instrument is
perhaps chord strumming.
The first seven chords of guitar alfabeto, plus the I, O and P chords, all
need no more than three fingers, while frequent harmonies (like E, A or
F-both major and minor) are impossible to play without barré's on a
six-course instrument tuned in G, at least if we wish to include all
courses. It raises the problem of strumming over a limited number of
strings, which introduces theoretical difficulties for the player.
With regard to what Sanz says about strumming the D minor chord and the
resulting 4/6 position (the A in the bass): a considerable portion of his
text is about how to play basso continuo on the guitar, and in accordance
with his advice to use bourdons for that his tablature examples show only
plucked textures, so that the bass will always be in its proper position,
which is below the other voices. This raises the question if his remark
about the D minor chord has anything to do with basso continuo.
Besides, most bass instruments such as the bass viol and the theorbo can
produce the D below the A (the fifth course bourdon) of the guitar. When
playing together with a strummed guitar with bourdons, which is not a
situation described by Sanz (nor by any other writer), the fundamental
bass can still be taken care of on the bass line instrument.
Lex
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